NEW DELHI (AP) – India will not allow export of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months, said the head of the Serum Institute of India, which has been awarded a contract to make 1 billion doses of the vaccine for developing countries. said Sunday.
With rich countries reserving most of the vaccines to be made this year, Serum Institute – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – is likely to make the most vaccinations for developing countries. However, the export ban means poorer countries will likely have to wait a few months before receiving their first shots.
The vaccine received an emergency permit by the Indian regulator on Sunday, but on the condition that Serum Institute not export the footage to ensure that vulnerable populations in India are protected, Adar Poonawalla, the company’s CEO, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
He said the company has also been barred from selling the vaccine on the private market.
“We can only give (the vaccines) to the government of India at the moment,” said Poonawalla, adding that the decision was also made to avoid hoarding.
As a result, he said, vaccine exports won for COVAX – the ambitious initiative designed to ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, initiated by the World Health Organization, the vaccine alliance GAVI and CEPI, a global coalition to fight epidemics. to fight -. t early to March or April.
Poonawalla said Serum Institute was currently in the process of signing a larger contract with COVAX for 300-400 million doses of the vaccine. That’s not counting two existing orders of 100 million doses each for the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and another from Novovax. He said the deal will be finalized in the coming weeks.
He said the first 100 million doses of the vaccine were sold to the Indian government at a “special price” of 200 rupees ($ 2.74) per dose, after which prices would be higher. The vaccine will be sold on the private market for 1,000 rupees ($ 13.68) per dose. He said vaccines could be delivered to Indian states where they were needed within seven to 10 days after the company struck a deal with the Indian government.
Poonawalla said his company planned to give 200-300 million doses of the vaccine to COVAX by December 2021. He acknowledged that the company should balance vaccine distribution between India and COVAX.
‘We cannot vaccinate everyone now. We can set priorities, ”he said.
Serum Institute is also negotiating bilateral agreements with individual countries, including Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, Poonawalla said. “So that at least the most vulnerable in the states of our country or in other parts of other countries are taken care of,” he said.
Poonawalla said that even if all the plans of several global vaccine manufacturers succeed, he still anticipates a global shortage of coronavirus vaccines for the coming year.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.